


Gummy Worms and Bad Decisions

by louloubear



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Candy, Floof, Fluff, Gummy Worms are great, Inspirational Jooheon, Jookyun soff, M/M, Mentions of Suicide, gummy worms, jooheon and minhyuk are cousins here, jookyun - Freeform, jookyun fluff, please don't read this if you're uncomfy with it, they're cute or whatever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:33:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24232150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/louloubear/pseuds/louloubear
Summary: The night when Jooheon almost froze his ass off and when gummy worms meant more than they were supposed to.
Relationships: Im Changkyun | I.M/Lee Jooheon
Comments: 4
Kudos: 46





	Gummy Worms and Bad Decisions

Lee Jooheon, at his age, has made a number of bad decisions. He recalls of the time when he chose to listen to his classmate who challenged him to raise his middle finger at the tender year of the start of elementary. The said classmate proceeded to call for their teacher's attention and Jooheon did what he deemed was best at that situation: he slapped his classmate. It was a split of a moment decision that didn't land him in detention but the guilt still ate him up whenever he remembered it.

Or about that time when he decided to jump off from the sidecar of his cousin's Minhyuk's bicycle, the rush of adrenaline is still a clear picture in his mind but sadly also the fact that he got spanked. He remembers how his decision landed Minhyuk with a one hour sermon, an endless reminder of his responsibility on Jooheon since he was the elder. Whether Minhyuk held a grudge that day, Jooheon never really found out. The way he was treated was the same still and he thinks that Minhyuk is a cool person for that.

Lee Jooheon at his age realizes that maybe Minhyuk _did_ hold a grudge that day but is just making him pay through small acts that have long gone unnoticed. The numerous times Minhyuk promised Jooheon he would treat the younger to a McDonald's meal the next time he gets his salary (spoiler alert: Jooheon never got free food), the times Minhyuk got away with hitting Jooheon's arm until it turned red whenever he laughed too hard, and now making Jooheon buy burgers in the middle of the night just because the younger was going to the convenience store that was right beside the establishment.

Jooheon grumbles under his breath childish curses to the cousin who laid relaxed in their shared apartment while he was out in the cold. He stared at the bag of gummy worms in the plastic bag, glaring ever so slightly at his favorite candy because that what got him in this situation in the first place. Jooheon starts to think that maybe going out to get gummies was a bad idea but he was too far to back out now.

Now with two warm Burger King Whoopers in a paper bag joining the bottles of soda and pack of gummy worms, he makes his walk back home. Jooheon nears the bridge which had an attachment to the boy, the bridge being witness to numerous kids playing hopscotch during the summer day and stunt men in the making. Jooheon was once one of those kids, the memory seeming so far now but still as vibrant as ever.

As he take steps closer, he notices a figure sitting on the bridge's railing. Jooheon frowns, quietly thinking how it was dangerous to decide to do what seemed like a harmless stunt in the middle of the night. One wrong move and he can fall off- his thoughts were interrupted when he took note of the swaying of the figure's legs, casual as if they were on a swing but it was enough to make Jooheon grow concern.

Jooheon walks slowly to the figure, only noticing that it was a man when the moon light angled its beam at just the right angle to showcase the man's extremely sharp yet beautiful features. The sight before Jooheon belonged in a museum alongside the paintings from the renaissance period, he bet that the man in front of him can outshine those in extravagant gowns even in just his matching black hoodie and shorts.

But Jooheon notices something else that made his heart ache: _the man had sad eyes_. Jooheon's heart ached seeing the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen look so sad.

"Hey... " Jooheon's voice was soft but he couldn't help feeling that the way it cracked betrayed him and the comforting stranger aura he was going for. The man looked up at him and Jooheon felt himself freeze for a moment. The man's side angle was angelic but he was definitely more beautiful upfront.

"Are you all right?" Jooheon spoke once again once he found his voice box in the pits of his own embarrassment. The beautiful man smirked ever so slightly that drove Jooheon insane, tilting his head a bit to the side.

"What do you think?" The man's voice was deep, Jooheon thought as he settled beside the stranger, leaving enough space that was as long as an arm's length. The other didn't seem to mind that Jooheon casually closed the gap.

"I don't think that you are." The man chuckled and shrugged.

"Why so?"

"I mean," Jooheon looked at the stranger as if the answer was supposed to be obvious, letting his eyes run up and down the man's current position. "You're sitting on the railing in the middle of the night with such a sad look in your eyes that it's starting to look like you're a scene from a movie. "

Jooheon watched the man blink, the man wasn't surely expecting such a keen ( _more like blunt_ ) observer to be the one to talk to him this night. Yet again, he wasn't expecting anyone to talk to him this night. He has been passed by a number of people, people he can count on one hand that are most likely coming from their over time hours. People too tired to even notice the out of the ordinary in the ordinary.

"What do you think I'm trying to do?"

Jooheon finds himself biting on his tongue as he looks up at him. He doesn't say anything for a few beats too long. Jooheon wasn't dumb, the way the man was encouraging him to say his guess about what he was supposed to do scares him. He's scared that he might be right and he wouldn't know how to deal with such information.

"So, what do you think I'm trying to do?" The way the man casually repeats the question and swings his legs gave Jooheon anxiety, he chews his lips in thought. It was done in such a relaxed state that it was almost mocking. 

Jooheon knew he needed to be careful with whatever he said or did in the following moments, but he believed what he said next was right despite a part of him screaming otherwise.

"You're trying to kill yourself."

 _Silence_ , Jooheon was met with silence. A long beat of silence before it was cut swiftly by the sudden gush of wind that makes him regret wearing shorts in the first place. He felt the cold nip at his skin but when he gazed over to the unknown man in front of him wearing the same thing, he wonders if he's feeling cold but Jooheon was taken aback when he spots a hint of a smirk.

"Well, you're not wrong." The confirmation didn't make him feel easier. Now Jooheon is taking in every movement, how the man's hands rest so easily on the metal railing despite the fact that they were starting to lose color from the cold, he watches how he sways his legs freely with no worry about falling or not. He watches silently.

"Why haven't you done it?"

The question surprised him. _Why_ hasn't he done it? He's been here for a good hour or so, but why? Why the sudden hesitance? 

He bites down the entire monologue of his life story threatening to come out back into his system, choking it to stay quiet and to not lay itself before Jooheon, a man that he barely knew. He swallows whatever sign of hope he might have left in his eyes and tries to kick the fact that maybe... _He was hoping someone would stop and ask him._

He was maybe hoping that someone would ask him why he was out there in the cold, ask him why he was sitting on the railing the other way around, ask him why he was there at this hour. He scoffs at the thought, shaking his head at such naive hope. No stranger would do that voluntarily. 

He thought he had his heart set out to jump into the darkness, relieving himself of the pain he has gotten to know. The man stares straight ahead in the dark abyss, staying quiet and didn't spare Jooheon a second glance. 

He figured Jooheon would have walked away by now, would have realized that the man he was talking to that was sitting on the edge (literally) was a lost case and decided to walk back home, going on his merry way. It was only then when he heard ripping and he felt a gentle nudge that he realized that this blonde was different.

"Gummy worm?"

He looks down to the open packet, quietly muttering a thanks before taking two. Their soft chewing filled the silence that was left by Jooheon's sudden question that the man refused to answer. This man realizes that somehow, Jooheon understood that probing the heavy weight of guilt wasn't the best course of action for this moment.

It's a good course of action, the questioning I mean, but maybe for some other time. For now, they just decided to enjoy the gummy worms. They looked like two idiots too, eating gummies in the middle of the winter night with shorts. Jooheon was starting to loose feeling on his legs but didn't mention such.

No questions were to be asked until the pack contained two gummies. Jooheon quietly picked up one of them, circling it a bit in between his index finger and thumb before handing the nearly empty pack to the man who gratefully accepted.

"You ever think how gummy worms can make much more sense then they were originally meant to?"

 _No_ , the man doesn't think of how a piece of candy can mean a lot more, he had enough problems to deal with to worry about that. He looked at Jooheon who seemed to be lost in his thoughts, still not eating the gummy worm in his hand..

"The pack contained at least 20 pieces, each one having their own flavor ." The man nodded, noticing how Jooheon spoke slowly. As if Jooheon was afraid that if he spoke fast, whatever he was going to say next won't make any sense. "Technically, I guess we can say that they're like people. They have their own differences and no one really knows what's going on in their minds, no one really knows what the other is going through."

The man wanted to point out that gummy worms didn't have brains but was cut off when Jooheon takes a deep breath, "You slowly realize that the world can be a bit too cruel to you and your fellow gummy worms, you watch them leave you one by one and you beat yourself up for it. You were already cold to begin with but with many people who are like you by your side, you think nothing of the cold and of the world...The moment you realize the weight you carry is too much to bare, the cold is far more bitter than you remember. "

"You beat yourself up.. Because you don't want to live in this world alone, carrying the pain by yourself but I think... That that's okay..." The man frowns in confusion at what he just heard before Jooheon continued, "It would be weird if you didn't feel any hard feelings because I mean life is shitty you know, and it will remain shitty even when you leave but that doesn't mean you aren't important though... The world is a lot less shitty with you here"

Jooheon looks up to flash a wide smile that had his eyes forming happy little crescent shapes, seeing such a smile made the man feel such a warm feeling in his chest. The feeling was distant but it wasn't anything new, it was almost nostalgic and the man liked feeling this way. He returned the smile with enough energy that he can muster.

Jooheon's eyes sparkled at seeing the smile.

"I'm positive that you'll find the person who can help carry the weight you're bearing and you'll see that the world will be a better place to live in!" The man smiles and Jooheon's heart quickened at the sight before him _(He was mentally debating with himself on why the heck he was finding someone eating gummy worms so endearing)._ The next question brought him back to reality in the speed of light.

_"Can it be you then?"_

The question was innocent, no underlying flirty meaning to it but _hope_. Hope that maybe Jooheon was right, that his analogy of the world and gummy worms was right no matter how silly it sounded at first, that it was right even in his difficult situation. Jooheon felt an urge to protect the man before him and he wanted more than ever to keep that smile on his face despite only meeting him.

"Of course!" His voice raised an octave but whatever, that didn't matter now. He stretched his hand out, still smiling widely, "My name is Lee Jooheon! "

He watched as the other smiled, swinging his legs around and pressing his feet firmly on the ground before he returned the smile. "Im Changkyun, nice to meet you."

 _Changkyun_ , Jooheon smiled at the name and giggled softly to himself. The thought of Changkyun doing whatever he was supposed to do at that bridge was not brought up again that night as they walked back home. Jooheon held Changkyun's hand even though the latter was complaining how his hands might feel cold because he held onto the railing but Jooheon still did so.

(Changkyun chose to ignore the voice in his head shouting at him on how his months of planning for this night was wasted, instead choosing to focus on how Jooheon's voice was too loud for someone walking in the middle of the night, how Jooheon's eyes reminded him so much of the crescent shaped moon and bananas. Changkyun chose to drown out the voice in is head with the silent warmth he is feeling as he's holding on to Jooheon's hand.

Even if it was just for tonight, Jooheon made him feel he deserved this feeling and _maybe_ he was starting to believe that too.)

The burgers were long cold when Jooheon arrived home. Minhyuk ran Jooheon's ears out with the repeated questions of 'Where did you go?', 'Why didn't you answer your phone?', and 'Are you stupid?' leaving his lips with concern evident on his face as he took in the sight before him. His cousin. who he will now refer to constantly as an _idiot_ , had a pink nose and his lips were starting to lose color from the cold.

Jooheon can only smile sheepishly at Minhyuk, not really knowing how to explain what transpired that night and his cousin didn't even gave him a chance to. As Minhyuk ushered him to get into a warm bath and as he hears soft grumbling about how he had to reheat the burgers, Jooheon realizes that he doesn't regret coming home late.

With blood rushing to his cheeks at the thought of a certain someone, he thinks that tonight, despite the numb fingers and cold burgers, he thinks that he didn't make a bad decision.

**Author's Note:**

> hi guys!! i hope you all liked this one! 
> 
> i know i promised fluff but i hope the ending was all right for y'all! the next one is surely fluff so please watch out for that!! 
> 
> see you all in the next one and stay safe and hydrated always!!  
> -lou


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